#anastasia niukina

[ballet-symphonie]

VBA Asks

Hi Ale! I hope you can understand my question(s). Talking about the VBA 2018 class, how would you rank in your personal perception of "talent" Ionova, Bulanova, Khoreva, Petukhova and Nuikina based *only* on their graduation exams (not their lives in the theater etc)? And would you add other students to the list of most known/special students in that year? And how would rank them as well? I'm asking this because (first, I recognize Khoreva's talent), but in comparison, I don't understand how....

(Did I lose the second half of this ask?? I'm so sorry if I did, but this is all I have) This is a bit tricky because 'talent' is such a subjective thing. I'll keep the list to the 5 you mentioned, as those really were the clear standouts. In terms of natural disposition to ballet, I think I'd rank them as follows:

Khoreva- checks all the boxes, height, mobility, hyperextension, etc

Nuikina - a jump like that is from nature only

Bulanova - her not having a full education at VBA has left some holes in her technique, the feats she can pull of despite this are nothing short of remarkable.

Ionova - clearly a late bloomer, a bit short but with good natural coordination

Petukhova - a beautiful dancer, but ballet was clearly much much more of a battle for her than her classmates.

just random thought... i think yuri fateev favors maria koshkareva so much, even maria is just a student yuri is striving to get her to Mariinsky. when she compete for the moscow competition, fateev actually got an american choreographer to make the modern variation "maestro" for maria. and now maria getting all the lead roles in school, i mean she deserve it, she's very talented. i think some girls need to work on their confidence, dont let their nerves get them to fall apart.

Koshkareva is really good, but its more than that. She's the first graduate since Khoreva to look like she's ready at such a young age. The girl isn't messing around, some of her classmates could do with even a smidge of her confidence.

not to sound like vba wizard but, I think a paquita comeback is possible with underwater kingdom. but the lead role will be the top performing girl in kovaleva's class, you know who, they are gonna make her the star, with the other girl 2nd prize MBC, after all they are already mariinsky employed, the director promotes them. sofya V, might be princess masha for nutcracker, but she needs to work hard if she wanna shine. still early to tell things.

I would be all in for this programming, those underwater kingdom tutus are far too pretty (and likely expensive lol) to only be used once. I think the long-legged Kuprina would dance the Queen of the Waters Variation so well. I certainly expect Koshkareva to get the leading roles split with either Kuprina or Valuillina, depending on who looks stronger.

Hey! This is a really weird question but recently I've been watching recordings of older Vaganova ballet exams and of course the strongest students are in the center. I watched both Vishneva's and Zakharova's. It's so cool how two of the most famous ballerinas of their generation graduated just one year apart from each other.

So I was wondering your opinion, if Vishneva and Zakharova had actually been in the same class together, which do you think would have had the center position in the class, or been the favorite?

Ooh what a question! I often forget that they graduated only a year apart despite Vishneva being 3 years older. Zakharova was invited to VBA at 15 after winning 2nd prize at the Vaganova Prix and was allowed to skip not one but two grades into the graduating class.

I think the answer to your question depends on who's teaching the class. If its L.V. Kovaleva, there's no way Vishenva is taken out of the middle. Diana is her golden child and still is today. If the teacher is E.V. Evteeva, I think it could go either way. However, as incredibly gifted as Zakharova is, I don't really associate her as VBA's product, she only studied there for a year. Numerous talents such as Tsiskaridze, Grigorovich, and even Semionova, have described Zakharova's talent and style as utterly distinct from any real school. I personally feel that more credit should be given to Zakharova's teacher in Kiev, Valeria Sulegina. I think it would be hard to take the position away from Vishenva, who spent her whole life battling at the academy.

Hi Ale! I recently stumbled upon your blog and now I can't stay away! :D Maybe this is just my opinion, but it seems to me that in recent years the Vaganova boys have gotten... weaker? They don't seem to be as strong as the graduates of past years. How do you think this will affect their chances of making it into a companies like Mariinsky and Bolshoi?

Ahhh oof, the state of the VBA boys is not great IMO. They are graduating fewer competent boys each year. I think there are a variety of causes, including an outdated and ineffective training curriculum, a lot of the historically successful pedagogues no longer working, greater competition from other schools, and a smaller talent pool.

Prior to the war, I would have said yes, this will negatively affect their chances. Both BT and MT have repeatedly shown their willingness to hire and promote both foreign and foreign-trained talent, think of names like Victor Caxieta, Nikita Korneyev, Jacopo Tissi, David Motta Soares, etc. However, I can't imagine any graduate from a major ballet school is itching to go to Russia any time soon, the talent pool for Russian companies to pull from has unquestionably shrank.

However, we can still see the effect of the decline in a variety of other ways. For example, of the 8 boys taken into MT this fall, half were from the school of Boris Eifman, not VBA. VBA's insistence on poaching boys from the theatre to dance leading roles in their academy shows also doesn't help the problem. The decline isn't super obvious now, but wait 5 or so years when the current premiers start to retire...

#Youtube #vaganova ballet academy #vaganova #vba #vishenva #diana vishneva #svetlana zakharova #maria khoreva #maria bulanova #daria ionova #maria Petukhova #anastasia niukina #ballet #ballerina #ballet ask #Q+A #Maria koshkareva